2021 Belgian GP, Ferrari first practice report: Charles P4, Carlos P5. Ferrari first practice report.

Not exactly the most representative first session back in action for Formula 1 – but this is Spa-Francorchamps and these kind of changeable conditions are nonetheless par for the course of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

Valtteri Bottas was quickest in a damp opening hour of practice for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps: the Mercedes driver finished fastest from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.2s

The first car on track in the intermittent conditions was Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, running the intermediate tyres, as Carlos took his SF21 car for a look at the conditions in the early stages of the session.

As the sessions progressed, track conditions improved and the drivers were able to set their times on slick tyres. Ferrari finished the session in P4 and P5, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who successfully completed the programme for the first practice session by testing different aerodynamic configurations and tyre management, despite the far from ideal track conditions. Charles finished in fourth place with a personal best lap time of 1:45:818, followed closely by his teammate (1:45:935), as the rain hit the track in the final moments of FP1 at Spa-Francorchamps.

Results from the first practice session at the Belgian Grand Prix, Round 12 of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship.

2021 F1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (1)
POS	DRIVER	NAT.	TEAM	TIME
1	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG Petronas	1m45.199s
2	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1m45.363s
3	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1m45.699s
4	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1m45.818s
5	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1m45.935s
6	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1m46.127s
7	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin	1m46.177s
8	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1m46.336s
9	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1m46.497s
10	Fernando Alonso	CHI	Alpine F1 Team	1m46.612s
11	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin	1m46.649s
12	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1m46.683s
13	Antonio Giovinazzi	GBR	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m46.755s
14	George Russell	ISR	Williams Racing	1m46.772s
15	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m46.928s
16	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1m47.101s
17	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m48.125s
18	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes	1m48.224s
19	Nikita Mazepin	RUS	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m48.705s
20	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m49.059s